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(-No Model.)

G. E. PAINTER. ELECTRIC DROP LIGHT.

No. 466,509. Patented Jan. 5, 1 8,92.

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. UNITED "STATES PATENT A OFFICE- GWYNNE E. rAI E, or BALTIMORE, lVlARYLAND,' ASSIGNOR oNE-HALF TO JAMES F. MORRISON, E sAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC DROP-LlG H T SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 466,509, dated January 5, 1892.

Application filed April 29, 1891. Serial No. 390,919- (No model.)

description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon. My invention relates to improvements in the construction of electric drop-lights, and.

refers particularly to the class in which the lamp is suspended by a current-conveying cord wound upon a drumbythe action of a spring or other counterbalance and unwound by hand. An automatic locking and-releasing device similar to the well-known form used upon curtain-rollers is employed to give the necessary vertical adj ustability.

The invention consists in improvements upon the construction and combination of the various details of the devices referred to, and also particularly to the means employed to automatically control the supply-circuit simultaneously with the lowering and raising of the lamps.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a device embodying my invention, showing the lamp-cord partly unwound. Fig.2 is a sectional view taken upon the line no as of Fig. 1, but with the shaft and actuating-spring in full lines. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the contact-making segment-wheel. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views, showing two extreme operative positions of the contact-making segment-wheel.

As seen in the drawings, upon the spindle S are rotatably mounted the disks H H h, which carry the grooved cylinder 0, upon which the lamp-cord c is wound and unwound. The disks H H it support each otherby means of a brace-bar b and screw 4?, and the cylinder is adapted to be readily-withdrawn from said disks upon removal of the screw 2'. (See Fig.

3.) By this arrangement access is given to the binding-posts p p upon the inner side of the head H, to which the conductors of the cord are attached. The cylinder 0 has a notch n in one end for the passage of the cord from the exteriorwinding-surface to said binding-posts. This notch is in one end of the spiral groove Q, in which the cord is wound. Guards G G are fastened to the plate A and depend therefrom in close proximity to the cylinder, serving to keep the cord 0 in the groove.

. Between the head H and disk h is arranged a spring 8, one end of which is fastened near the peripheries of said disks bya screw 2" and the other end fixed upon the shaft S. Upon forcibly unwinding the cord 0 the spring 3 will be wound up and its unwinding itself will wind the cordagain. An automatic looking and releasing device 0 is provided upon the head H, and the whole arrangement acts in a similar manner'to an ordinary spring curtain-roller.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 1, a metallic contact-ring R and'a c'ontact-pla'te R are fixed upon the head H, which is made of insulating material. A switch-block F, of insulating material, is mounted upon the plate A, and to it are fixed the contact-pieces 10 p to which are attached the main circuit-wires 1 and 2 and the contact-pieces p 10 to which are attached thespring-contacts E E.

Mounted upon' the spindle S (see Figs. 2 and 4) and loosely rotating thereon is a barrel T, having a half-wheel W upon one end and a number of contact-fingers upon the other. These fingers bear upon the plate R with sufficient pressure to make thebarrel and half-wheel rotate with the cylinder 0 until the pin j comes into contact with the stop-' screw J upon the hanger B, when the barrel T and half-wheel W will be stopped and the cylinder may continue to rotate, the fingers f maintaining electrical contact with the plate R.

The contactspring E is placed so that the half-wheel W will engage it when. the lamp is pulled down quickly, the friction of the ing device tion until it is caught by the automatic lock- As seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the pin j is so positioned that when it is in c011- tact with the stop-screw J the half-wheel will be atits extreme limit of throw and the springcontact E will engage the periphery of the half-wheel IV at the opposite end to where it first engaged it-tl1at is, with the pinj against the stop -screw J the contact making periphery of the half-wheel will all be above a horizontal line drawn through the center of the spindle c. The notches of the automatic locking device are opposite each other at an angle slightly oblique to said horizontal line, and whichever one happens to be uppermost will be engaged by a pawl upon a slight reverse rotation of the cylinder 0. The halfwheel will reverse with the cylinder; but the rotation being only partial the spring E will maintain contact with the periphery .of the half-wheel W. \Vhen it is desired to extinguish the light and get it out of the way, a slight pull will disengage the locking mechanism and the spring s will rewind the cord,

at the same time throwing back the halfwheel IV until the pin j engages the stopscrew J. The cylinder may then continue to wind the cord up to any distance without altering the position of the half-wheel W.

The head H of the cylinder is preferably made of some good insulating material, as also is the grooved piece upon which the cord is wound.

The contact-ring R, which is engaged by the spring-contact E, and the plate R, engaged by spring-contact E, are held in position by screws 1., which also fasten in po sition the contact-pieces Z1, and bindingscrews 1' i, which engage the conductors of the cord 0.

In connection with Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings I have illustrated in detail a terminal block and binding-posts thereon for the necessary fuses and contact-pieces.

Although in the drawings a lamp having a socket-key is shown, it is obvious that this is entirely unnecessary, since the switching of the lamp-circuit is accomplished automatically.

The details of my device may be modified in many ways without departing from the novelty thereof, and I do not therefore limit myself to the precise details of construction shown.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1s- 1. The combination, with the winding mechanism of an electric drop-light, of a circuitbreaker mounted upon said mechanism in frictional engagement therewith and automatically operated thereby to make and break circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the said drop-light.

2. The combination, with the winding-cylinder of an electric drop-light, of a circuitbreaker making continuous frictional contact therewith and thereby operated automatically by the rotation thereof, said circuit-breaker making and breaking circuit at any point in the range of adjustment ofthe drop-light.

3. The combination, with the winding-cylinder of an electric drop-light, having a contact-plate upon one of its heads, of a circuitbreaker in continuous frictional contact with the said plate, said frictional connection automatically operating the circuit-breaker upon the "rotation of the cylinder, thereby making and breaking circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the drop-light.

4. The combination, in an electric droplight, of a fixed shaft, a winding-cylinder rotatably mounted upon said shaft, and a circuit-breaker rotatably mounted upon said shaft, making frictional contact with the cylinder, and operated by the rotation thereof.

5. The combination, in an electric droplight, of a ceiling-plate, hangers depending therefrom, a winding-cylinder rotating upon a shaft supported by said hangers, a contactplate upon one of the heads of said cylinder, and an automatic circuit-breaker rotatably mounted upon said shaft and making frictional contact with the said contact-plate, said circuit-breaker being insulated from the supporting-shaft.

6. The combination, in an electric droplight,of a shaft and a winding-cylinder mounted thereon, a contact-plate upon said. cylinder, a circuit-controller rotatably mounted upon said shaft, friction-fingers forming part of said controller engaging the plate, and a segment of a wheel also forming part of the controller and made integralwith said fingers, the said segment being adapted to complete the circuit of the drop-light through the said fingers and contact-plate.

7. The combination, in an electric droplight, of a circuitbreaker adapted to automatically make an dbreak circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the said light and simultaneously with the raising and lowering thereof, and stops so placed as to retain the said controller in either of two extreme operative positions.

8. An electric drop-light comprising a winding-cylinder, a conducting-cord adapted to be wound upon said cylinder and to carry the drop-light, a circuit-breaker in continuous frictional engagement with the said windingcylinder, and a stationary contact located in position to be engaged by the circuit-breaker in any position of the light.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GWYNNE E. PAINTER. Witnesses:

CHAS. P. NEWMAN, G. ALLEN MULLEN.

ICC 

